Sebekkha: "ancient Egyptian" martial art

The July 1988 issue of Black Belt magazine featured an article on a martial art called Sebekkha, which was translated as meaning "Crocodile Spirit". The article claimed that a man named Gamal Selim, who was also the proprietor of a gym called the Egyptian Temple of Fitness, was among the few remaining practitioners of this style, which was said to have been passed down via a lineage of Egyptian priests over a period of 3000 years.

In 1993 Gamal Selim produced a book entitled "The Pharaohs Warrior: A reference guide to the ancient Egyptian culture", which appears to be out of print.

In 2007, a man named Ramses Seleem - who is, going by the pictures on his website, the man formerly known as Gamal Selim - is operating a school called the Sia Academy For Ancient Egyptian Studies, which is apparently based in a church hall in Herne Hill, London. This school offers classes for both children and adults in Sebek-kha, which is described as:

... the oldest martial art in the history of mankind and develops balance in all aspects of combat: speed, power, agility, strength, defences and attacks. Since the preparation of the warrior was considered as important as the fighting techniques themselves, this class provides the ideal means to attain fitness, flexibility and self-defence skills.

The Sia Academy website also claims that Sebek-kha "was founded by Heru-Ur (Heracles) in the year 45,000 B.C."

... a distinguished teacher of Egyptology, a lecturer and writer, who has appeared on many television and radio programmes internationally to discuss the ancient Egyptian way of life. Dr. Seleem studied this tradition for over 25 years. This study, which involved eight hours’ physical training and four hours’ theory a day, had to be fitted in around a normal school education. The present population of Egypt comprises 90% Moslems, 8% Coptic Christians and 1% foreign settlers and only 1% remains Egyptian. One-half of this 1% are the ones who keep this tradition alive to this day, although the number of these custodians of the ancient Egyptian body of knowledge is decreasing annually.

Dr. Seleem achieved examination grades with high honours during his school and university education. In addition to being proficient in the Egyptian physical culture, Dr. Seleem has also studied the leading Asian forms of martial arts, obtaining a third degree black belt in Shoto Kan Karate, a first degree black belt in Judo and a fourth degree Sifu in Kung Fu. He was the head instructor of the Egyptian Karate and Kung Fu Federation and Egyptian martial arts champion for five consecutive years. He achieved an exemplary record during his military service, then travelled to the USA and other countries, including Australia, South Africa and Holland, before moving to London, where he founded the Sia Academy, through which he teaches and lectures.

The only centre to offer Sebek Kha - the spirit of the crocodile - the ancient Egyptian form of martial arts. It emphasises balance in the use of legs, arms, speed, power, agility, defences, attacks, thrown and holds. Master Ramses Seleem is the instructor. Five-times Egyptian martial arts champion; instructor of the American World Judo Team and black belts in the traditional formats.

My casual assessment is that Sebek-kha is likely to be a modern combination of calisthenics, stretching exercises and self defense/martial arts skills, with a New Age/"Ancient Egyptian" motif. There's nothing inherently wrong with that but I find some of the claims about Sebek-kha, especially the 45,000 B.C. lineage, to be preposterous, and I would be interested to know if Mr. Seleem's martial arts and military credentials are verifiable.

First off let me warn you: it has been a long time since I saw a book this horrible, this wretched. I question "Dr Seleem"'s doctorate and would like to know precisely what he was smoking when he wrote it and where I can get some legally.

Originally Posted by Vicky Gashe -- Doctoral Student of Egyptology at the University of Manchester

Put more simply, this book should not really be kept in the "Ancient History" section of your local bookshop, but perhaps in the "New Age" section.

I rather liked this one from Amazon

Originally Posted by A Reader on Amazon

While Dr. Saleem is certainly heartfelt in his presentation of the material, his work is marred by the long standing 19th century biases and a totally bizarre sense of linguistics.
Much of what Saleem says reads as if taken directly from the works of Budge and the Theosophists. The idea of a "esoteric monotheism" of ancient Egypt is unsupportable being rooted in long standing western cultural biases that look upon magic and polytheism as 'primitive' (How could Egypt be both advanced and polythiest? Take a look at Japan and find out). If you want to take an irresponsible and distorted New Age headtrip and pretend your learning about Ancient Egypt, read this book. If you would rather get a sense of the real mystery, power, beauty and magic of Egypt, read Bob Brier.

Now to be fair, there Amazon had a couple of 5 Star reviews on the book as well.

Edited: to include some review quotes and to fix formatting issues.

2nd Edit: Just took a further look at the kemet site. While the article is opiniated and show definite facts, I'd have to think further about the reliability of site which also includes D&D 3rd edition rules for download...

Although the reviewers' consensus does seem to be that Mr. Seleem's scholarship is "eccentric", that simply suggests that he is one of the huge number of people writing New Age claptrap about ancient Egyptians. I'm more interested in his claims about Sebekkha itself, partly because I remember being skeptical about it when the Black Belt article appeared in 1988 and I'm intrigued to learn that Selim/Seleem has re-appeared in London after all these years.

"This ancient tradition was taught orally, both to the Pharaohs and also to initiates such as Homer, Plato, Pythagoras, Buddha, the Yellow Emperor of China, Abraham and Moses. It encompasses the study of medicine, astronomy, astrology, gemmology, philosophy, religion, mathematics, language and the system of physical exercise, which is fundamental to the teaching."

And from the same article, dated 1998, which seems to be when Mr. Seleem arrived in London:

Now the full and factual account of this remarkable achievement is available in London through the arrival of Master Ramses Seleem, a member of the ancient Egyptian spiritual order, Unnut, the "Openers of Heaven", which is a secret, though unbroken line stretching back to the dawn of civilisation.

Master Seleem has studied all aspects of the ancient Egyptian tradition for over 25 years. He took a BSc in Economics and Political Science and obtained a PhD in Egyptology at Cairo University, before becoming an officer in the Egyptian Army, where he taught the Green Berets.

The article claims he is a 1st Black in Judo but http://www.martialartsclubs.com/clubsinfo/580.php lists him as "Instructor to the American World Judo Team". Is Judo so hard up in the U.S. that we need 1st degree Black Belts coaching teams at the national level?

Sebek/ Sobek was the Egyptian crocodile god/ demon of the Nile. He was said to have captured Horus' four sons with a net when they emerged from the Nile. Sebek was seen as more of a righter of wrongs than one who fought evil. It's amazing what one might pick up from listening to music. Thanks, Nile!

re:

"This ancient tradition was taught orally, both to the Pharaohs and also to initiates such as Homer, Plato, Pythagoras, Buddha, the Yellow Emperor of China, Abraham and Moses. It encompasses the study of medicine, astronomy, astrology, gemmology, philosophy, religion, mathematics, language and the system of physical exercise, which is fundamental to the teaching."

bwahahahahahahahaha!!!! ...what kind of time period separates all these guys alone? ...still 45,000BC should cover it. how did it get from greece to egypt to china to india and end up at herne hill in london? i have friends that live near there should call em and get em to go slap him about a bit.

"Pythagoras can you hurry up and finish that godamn theorem or i'll kick yr ass in sparring!" ...Moses & Budha ffs! lmfao!! this is a classic!